Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate gender, age, case definition, site of involvement, mode of diagnosis, the facility where treatment was instituted and treatment outcomes of non-pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) cases recorded at 7th Tuberculosis Control Dispensary, Ankara, Turkey between 2006 and 2012.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Medical records of the cases were retrospectively reviewed.

RESULTS: Overall 590 TB cases were recorded during the seven years period. Among them, there were 296 (50%) pulmonary TB (PTB), 248 (43%) non-pulmonary TB (NPTB) and 39 (7%) PTB plus NPTB cases. The percentages of NPTB cases during the study years (2006-2012) were as follows, 31%, 37%, 38%, 42%, 49%, 53% and 56%. Female to male ratio was 156 (61%)/99 (39%), the mean age of the female cases was 49.41 19.48 (range, 1-87) years, and that of male cases was 43.85±22.41 (range, 1-81) years. The most frequent type of NPTB were extrathoracic lymph node TB, pleural TB, genitourinary system TB (33%, 13%, 12%, respectively) in females and pleural TB, extrathoracic lymph node TB, bone and vertebral TB (32%, 14% and 13%, respectively) in males. Diagnosis was based on histopathological findings (74%), clinical and radiological findings (23%), and detection of acid fast bacilli (ARB) in smear (3%). None of the female cases abandoned treatment, while 2 of the male cases discontinued treatment. Tuberculosis control dispensaries ranked the first among the facilities that treatment was instituted (44%).

CONCLUSION: The number of NPTB cases increased over years. The number and mean ages of female cases were higher than that of males. While extrathoracic lymph node TB was most common in females, pleural TB ranked the first place in males.